The 'I' thought or notion of being a separate person can be very subtle. If there is any belief going into such notions as 'I have seen it' or' I do not exist' or 'I am enlightened' or 'I have it' or'I am a teacher'-that is still the 'I' sense. Any reference at all to any shred of a separate or special 'I' is just another reference point. Many have a desire to proclaim 'I am now free', but you can never really say that when you see that the 'I' is a total concept. There is no one present to be free or to be a teacher or have any position at all, positive or negative. Even any subtle sense of becoming, purifying or approaching a goal is just another subtle reference to an assumed separate person or 'I'. Even well-known teachers almost invariably fall into dualism by proclaiming themselves a specially awakened one or implying that this is a process of becoming. For example, some say that first you become awakened and then later become liberated. Hogwash! Who is to do such a thing if there is no one to do it?
“Here and now you are the truth. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Separation from immediate being, awareness, peace has never happened. Right now, you are what is being pointed to. There is no teacher, student or path, at all, just a simple pointing to what is undeniable, your own being. That is all. The 'I' notion is the assumption that you were some kind of entity apart from reality from existence-awareness itself.
Teachers and students invariably talk in reference to the reality of the 'I' concept. Both are playing in a conceptual illusion. Once you see this, you cannot play that game. It is so obvious when seen. But when it is not seen, whatever is said or believed, however noble it sounds, even if it be the highest non-dual verbiage, only perpetuates the false concept of separation. I was in non-duality circles for years and overlooked that everyone, including myself, was still functioning in reference to that subtle sense of self. Bob Adamson pointed this out to me immediately when I met him and I then realized what had been missed. Even the so-called enlightened teachers I had met, even the ones who proclaimed they had no 'me' or whatever, actually were still functioning in reference to that self-center and completely unconscious of it. I call it the 'enlightened ego', the self that thinks it has vanished. What I found was that in such cases the arrogance and lack of genuine humility were usually incredibly tangible and present around such people. In seeing there is no 'I', there is no one left to claim anything, even understanding anything. There is just what is.”
~ John Wheeler, in “The Light Behind Consciousness”. This is a VERY potent book and recommended reading for anyone still harboring any notion of a self apart from the infinite totality of what is.